With the development of ultrasonic technology, ultrasonic diagnostic equipment has been accepted by clinicians in various application fields, and has gradually become daily-use diagnostic equipment. As the popularity of ultrasonic diagnostic equipment in various clinical departments grows, the clinicians' requirements for convenience and specialty operation of the equipment are increasing.
But the design of the existing control panel and user interface (UI) is limited. Only some frequently-used function buttons are placed in prominent areas or first-level menus, where clinicians can operate them conveniently. Clinicians in various clinical departments focus on different functions and have different operation routines. Therefore, a unified panel and UI design can hardly satisfy the demand of clinicians in various clinical departments.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, most manufacturers deploy one or two reserved user-defined buttons in their control panel designs. Clinicians can define the functions of the user-defined buttons according to their own operation routine. Nevertheless, one or two reserved user-defined buttons are insufficient to solve the problem.
Besides, in some other, related arts, all the buttons on the control panel are user-defined buttons, functions of which can be completely defined by users. This kind of design may satisfy the demand of clinicians in various clinical departments. But the operation may be relatively complex. Furthermore, after the redefinition of the buttons, it would take a long time for the clinicians to remember the new locations of these buttons.